NEC Fingerprint System Helps US Police Combat Crime

Working with the South Bend, Indiana Police Department (SBPD), NEC Corporation of America (NEC), a provider and integrator of advanced communications, networking and IT solutions, announced that it has extended the department's Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS), NEC include palm print and slap fingerprint matching capabilities.

Slap fingerprint matching uses one scan to capture all fingers on one hand and automatically separates each finger image into separate files. This allows SBPD officers to capture four fingerprints in the time that it took to capture one and also creates a more comprehensive database, allowing officers to solve more cases.

"We needed to take our law enforcement arsenal to the next level by adding these capabilities, too many crimes were left unsolved because we lacked the tools to properly identify the perpetrators," said Charlie Eakins, AFIS Manager/Latent Supervisor, South Bend Police department. "In my opinion, even one crime left unsolved, leaving the perpetrator free to inflict further damage to the community, was one too many."

The SBPD upgraded their existing NEC AFIS, to not only incorporate palmprint recognition and slap fingerprint matching, but also to expand the capacity and throughput of the system.

"The speed of searches on the solution is a clear benefit for the department, when a subject is arrested and his or her prints are captured on a Livescan device, the system searches the local AFIS database, state AFIS database and the FBI AFIS database all in eight minutes or less," said Barry Fisher, VP of NEC IDS division. "Many small police agencies are not even aware of the power they could have by tapping into the information on these networks. SBPD is a great example of a department that is truly connecting the dots."